Hints for Smarter Modeling in SketchUp

Aidan Chopra, Google SketchUp 3D Basecamp 2008

OrganizatiOn
Use the Entity info dialog box to make sure your groups and Components have meaningful names. Use Components for elements of your model that will be repeated. Use groups for elements of your model that are unique. Use the Layers dialog box to control the visibility of large numbers of similar Components, like furniture, trees or people. Creating separate Layers for each of these types of things makes it easier to hide or unhide them all at once. Use the Outliner dialog box to control the visibility of large, unique chunks of your model, like terrain, floor levels and alternate design schemes. Using the Outliner instead of Layers makes it easier to hide or unhide exactly what you want. You can also use the Outliner to rearrange the nesting hierarchy of Groups and Components in your model. as you model, delete any edges and faces you dont need. Subdivide any edge into any number of shorter edge segments. 1. Right-click on the edge you want to subdivide and choose divide from the context menu. 2. Type the number of edge segments youd like to end up with. 3. Press Enter.

diSPLay
Switch to Wireframe mode when youre using the Eraser tool to make sure youre only erasing what you mean to erase. if youre using Scenes, turn off Enable Scene transitions to keep your computer from having to work too hard to render your model. This is especially useful if your model stutters while trying to transition from one Scene to the next. When youre working on a big model, turn off Shadows, Profiles and any other edge effects to improve performance. When youre working on your model, create a scene that only switches over to a simple rendering style. This allows you to jump into an easy-modeling mode very quickly, without having to mess with the Styles and Shadows dialog boxes every time. 1. Open the Scenes dialog box. 2. Create a new scene. 3. Make sure Shadows and Fog are switched off. 4. Create a Style with no edge effects (including Profiles), watermarks or any other fanciness. Name it Simple Style. 6. Expand the Scenes dialog box by clicking the Expand toggle in the upper-right corner. 7. Deselect all of the Properties to Save except Style and Fog and Shadow Settings.

MOdELing
reduce the number of sides in your circles and arcs if you plan to use Push/Pull or Follow Me on them. 1. Draw a circle with the Circle tool or an Arc with the Arc tool. 2. Before you do anything else, type a number representing the number of sides, and the letter s. 3. Press Enter. Example: To create a circle with only ten sides, you would type 10s, then Enter. Make multiple copies at once with the Move tool. 1. Make the first copy. 2. Before you do anything else, type a number representing the total number of copies youd like, followed by the letter x. 3. Press Enter. Example: To make five copies instead of one, you would type 5x, then Enter. When using the Follow Me tool, select your extrusion path first. 1. With the Select tool, select the edge(s) youd like to follow first. 2. Activate the Follow Me tool. 3. Click on the face youd like to extrude.